How to rule out collapse models with BEC interferometry

Abstract

The model of continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) is the most prominent consistent modification of quantum mechanics predicting an objective quantum-to-classical transition. Here we show that precision interferometry with Bose-Einstein condensed atoms can serve to lower the current empirical bound on the localization rate parameter by six orders of magnitude. This works by focusing on the atom count distributions rather than just mean population imbalances in the interferometric signal of squeezed BECs, without the need for preparing highly entangled states. We discuss experimentally realistic measurement schemes which could probe and potentially rule out the entire relevant parameter space of CSL, including the historic values proposed by Ghirardi, Rimini, and Weber, below which CSL is no longer deemed a viable solution to the measurement problem of quantum mechanics.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, 1 tabl